Western's Kyle Walsh opened his senior year of cross country in style as he set the course record while winning the race in 16 minutes, 38 seconds. Classmate Jim Jackson took third as the Panthers claimed third with 67 points in the invitational behind West Lafayette (43) and South Knox (52).

"The first two miles of he course ware typical cross country, but the final mile ascends into the woods and then levels off into trails," Panther head coach Dana Neer said. "It heads down and you cross a stream and the final 150 meters is straight up hill. That last mile is very challenging and typically it's been one minute to 1:15 slower than the second mile because of the terrain.

"It's a challenging course and it was great to see Kyle set the course record."

Jackson was 22 seconds behind Walsh and Michael Marley added a 10th-place finish. Luke Minor and Eric Walsh were 25th and 28th to round out the Panthers' scoring.

"Getting three runners among the top 10 was great, too. Michael cut 30 seconds off his time here last year and Eric cut 2:30," Neer said. "This answered some questions for us early on as to where we thought we'd be as far as personnel and positions. This was a geed way to start off the year."

While No. 6-ranked West Lafayette ran away with the title, Western's Panthers stood alone in second place in the 13-team race.

Rachel Porenski of West Lafayette was the winner in 15:00 and the Red Devils scored just 27 points in their victory. The Panthers were next with 52 while Harrison was third with 80.

Sophomore Anina Gruber led Western with her fifth-place finish. She was followed by senior Brittany Stellhorn in eight, freshman Anna Hurlock in ninth and junior Becky Elliott in 11th. Sophomore Cassie Myer rounded out the scoring in 20th.

"Our girls were eager to run [West Lafayette] and see where we're at," Western Coach Dana Neer said. "I'm very happy with our positions. Other than Rachel running ahead of the pack, our girls matched up pretty evenly with them. Our pack was very, very good. All the girls who ran here last year cut between 45 and 60 seconds off their times.""